I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data communication, and more specifically to techniques for estimating the response of a wireless channel in a communication system with multiple subbands, such as an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication such as voice, packet data, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.
OFDM effectively partitions the overall system bandwidth into a number of (N) orthogonal subbands. These subbands are also referred to as tones, frequency bins, and frequency subchannels. With OFDM, each subband is associated with a respective subcarrier upon which data may be modulated. Each subband may thus be viewed as an independent transmission channel that may be used to transmit data.
In a wireless communication system, an RF modulated signal from a transmitter may reach a receiver via a number of propagation paths. For an OFDM system, the N subbands may experience different effective channels due to different effects of fading and multipath and may consequently be associated with different complex channel gains.
An accurate estimate of the response of the wireless channel between the transmitter and the receiver is normally needed in order to effectively transmit data on the available subbands. Channel estimation is typically performed by sending a pilot from the transmitter and measuring the pilot at the receiver. Since the pilot is made up of symbols that are known a priori by the receiver, the channel response can be estimated as the ratio of the received pilot symbol over the transmitted pilot symbol for each subband used for pilot transmission.
Pilot transmission represents overhead in the OFDM system. Thus, it is desirable to minimize pilot transmission to the extent possible. However, because of noise and other artifacts in the wireless channel, a sufficient amount of pilot needs to be transmitted in order for the receiver to obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of the channel response. Moreover, the pilot transmissions need to be repeated to account for variations in the channel over time due to fading and changes in the multipath constituents. Consequently, channel estimation for an OFDM system normally consumes a noticeable portion of the system resources.
In the downlink of a wireless communication system, a single pilot transmission from an access point (or a base station) can be used by a number of terminals to estimate the response of the distinct downlink channels from the access point to each of the terminals. However, in the uplink, each terminal needs to send a pilot transmission separately in order to enable the access point to estimate the uplink channel from the terminal to the access point. Consequently, the overhead due to pilot transmissions is exacerbated due to uplink pilot transmissions.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to more efficiently estimate the channel response in an OFDM system, particularly in the uplink.